# How to make a printable quiz with an answer key

**How do I make a printable quiz with an answer key?** To make a printable quiz with an answer key, choose questions that work without a screen, give each one writing space sized to its answer, put question numbers and marks in the margin and keep every question whole on one page. Print the key on a separate sheet, with the accepted alternatives and the marks for each part.

Published 2026-10-09 by EdProcto. https://edprocto.com/guides/how-to-print-a-quiz-with-an-answer-key

A printable quiz with an answer key is sometimes the only quiz that will run: a room with no devices, a cover lesson, a homework sheet, an exam hall, a child who has had enough screen for one day. Paper is not the lesser option. On short questions, scores on paper and on a screen come out close, and for a long passage paper has a small edge.

EdProcto, which publishes this guide, turns any quiz in its builder into a paper with the key on a page of its own; its page [for teachers](https://edprocto.com/solutions/teachers) lists printing beside sharing a code. The rest is craft: choosing questions that survive the move, laying them out, writing the key and marking the pile.

## Is a quiz on paper worse than a quiz on a screen?

No. For short test questions the two give much the same scores, and where the studies we read find a gap it more often favours paper.

### Test scores, paper versus screen

Wang et al. (2007) pooled studies of school mathematics tests given both ways and found no statistically significant effect of the mode on scores. Their synthesis of school reading tests reached the same verdict (Wang et al., 2008). Kingston (2009) combined 81 studies of multiple-choice testing in schools from 1997 to 2007. The overall effect was very small (−.01 weighted), grade level made no difference, and subject made a little: a small advantage for paper in mathematics (−.06) and for the computer in English language arts (.11) and social studies (.15).

One large case went the other way. While Massachusetts moved a state examination online over two years, the same test was sat in both formats, and Backes and Cowan (2019) estimated a penalty for sitting it online of about 0.10 standard deviations in mathematics and 0.25 in English language arts, which faded only in part in the second year.

### Reading on paper and on a screen

Reading is where paper pulls ahead. Clinton (2019) pooled 33 experiments with 2,799 readers: comprehension was lower from screens (g = −.25), and the gap sat in expository texts (−.32), not in narrative (−.04). Delgado et al. (2018), across 54 studies and 171,055 participants, found the same advantage (g = −0.21), larger under a time limit than at the reader's own pace.

In Mangen et al. (2013), 72 Norwegian tenth graders were randomly assigned to read two texts in print or as a PDF, and the print group scored significantly better on comprehension. Støle et al. (2020) gave 1,139 ten-year-olds comparable reading tests in both media: scores were lower on the digital one on average, and almost a third of the pupils did better on paper.

So a screen costs most on a long informational passage read against the clock, and least on a short question with a short answer: a paper copy of a quick check is a fair stand-in, and a comprehension test has a case for paper first.

We read these as abstracts, so the Wang syntheses come without their counts of studies, and none tested a ten-question classroom quiz printed from a quiz tool.

## Which questions print well, and which cannot be printed?

Questions answered by ticking, writing or numbering print well. Questions that need a player, a pointer, a microphone or a clock do not. The last column is what EdProcto's paper puts under each prompt.

| Question shape | What paper needs | What EdProcto prints |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Multiple choice](https://edprocto.com/templates/mcq), true or false | Lettered options, a box to tick | The options lettered in the builder's order, a box before each |
| [Fill in the blank](https://edprocto.com/templates/fill_blank), [cloze](https://edprocto.com/templates/cloze), one word, a number | A gap or a line as long as the answer | One ruled line; gaps stay as typed, four underscores each |
| [Short answer](https://edprocto.com/templates/short_answer), working in steps | Lines for the length you want | Six ruled lines |
| [Matching](https://edprocto.com/templates/matching) | A letter written beside each left-hand item | A blank beside each left-hand item; the right-hand items lettered in alphabetical order |
| [Ordering](https://edprocto.com/templates/process_seq) | The steps out of order, a blank before each | The items lettered and out of order, a blank before each; the same order at every printing |
| [Sorting](https://edprocto.com/templates/categorize) | A column for each group | One line naming the groups and listing the items in alphabetical order |
| [A clip played once](https://edprocto.com/templates/listen_once), [a point on an image](https://edprocto.com/templates/hotspot), [a recorded answer](https://edprocto.com/templates/verbal) | Read the clip aloud; ask for a cross on a printed picture; ask aloud | The prompt, and any options, with no picture or clip |
| Timed per question, or shown then hidden | Time the whole paper instead | The hidden content is left out |

On a screen the software shuffles, times and marks. On paper those jobs are yours. The writing rules do not change: the advice on [multiple-choice questions that measure](https://edprocto.com/guides/how-to-write-multiple-choice-questions-that-measure) still holds. Where only the working needs paper, students can [photograph and upload the page](https://edprocto.com/guides/handwritten-answers-in-an-online-quiz-photograph-and-upload) inside an online quiz.

## How should a printed quiz be laid out?

Lay it out so that no student wonders where to write and you never hunt for an answer.

- **A head** with lines for name and date and the score out of the total.
- **Question numbers in the left margin, marks beside each question.** "(2 marks)" tells the student how much to write.
- **Space sized to the answer.** One line for a word, two for a sentence, six for a paragraph, a box for working.
- **No question split across pages,** and a passage on the same sheet as its questions.
- **Answers down one edge where you can,** so a folded key sits beside them.
- **Type a child can read.** Wilkins et al. (2009) tested children aged 7 to 9: sentences in Arial with an x-height of 5.0 mm were verified 9% faster than at 4.2 mm, and measured reading age was 4 months higher when a test's type stayed large instead of shrinking.

Then print one copy and sit it yourself with a pen.

### Large print and coloured paper

Where a student's plan asks for large print or paper of a named colour, print that copy as the plan states. EdProcto's paper has one type size, and most browsers' print dialogs have a scale setting that enlarges it; check that no question then breaks over a page. This guide makes no claim about what a colour of paper does.

### A worked paper

> **1.** Which gas do plants take in for photosynthesis? A. Oxygen. B. Carbon dioxide. C. Nitrogen. (1 mark) Answer: ____
>
> **2.** Complete the sentence. (2 marks) Plants make glucose from carbon dioxide and ____________, using energy from ____________.
>
> **3.** Water moves through a plant. Number these from 1 (first) to 4 (last). (2 marks) ____ leaf, ____ root hair, ____ air outside the leaf, ____ stem

## What goes on the answer key?

The answer key goes on a page of its own and carries three things for each question: the answer, the alternatives you will accept, and how the marks divide. Kept apart, it stays out of the class set, and a colleague covering the lesson can mark as you would. For the worked paper:

| Question | Answer | Also accept | Marks |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | B | "Carbon dioxide" written out | 1 |
| 2 | water; light | "H2O"; "sunlight", "the Sun" | 1 for each gap |
| 3 | root hair 1, stem 2, leaf 3, air 4 | Nothing else | 2 for all four; 1 if only root hair and air are right |

Decide the alternatives before you mark. When a script shows a right answer you had not thought of, add it to the key and go back through the scripts already marked. For an open question the key is [a rubric](https://edprocto.com/guides/how-to-write-short-answer-questions-and-a-rubric-to-grade-them): a model answer and the points that earn each mark.

## How do you make two versions to deter copying?

Make version B by hand from version A: the same questions in another order and, for multiple choice, the options in another order too.

1. **Keep the first question easy on both,** and never part a passage from its questions.
2. **Reorder the options,** except where they run in a natural order such as numbers or dates.
3. **Label each version** with a letter in a corner, and its key with the same letter.
4. **Print each version with its own key.** In EdProcto, put the letter in the quiz's name, print, move questions with the builder's up and down arrows, change the letter and print again: each printout ends with its key in its own order.
5. **Deal the versions alternately** along each row.

We found no study we could read on how much a second version cuts copying, so this is craft. It removes the easy glance, not the determined effort, and adds one way to go wrong: the wrong key on a pile.

## How do you mark a printed quiz by hand, and keep the marks?

Mark one question across the whole pile before you start the next, with the key folded so its answers sit beside the students'.

1. **Fold the key** along its answer column and lay it against each script.
2. **Take one question, or one page, through every script.** You hold one answer in mind, and every student meets the same standard.
3. **Sort open answers into three piles first:** full marks, part, none.
4. **Tally as you go.** On a spare copy, put a stroke by a question for each wrong answer and, for multiple choice, by the wrong letter chosen.
5. **Write each mark in the margin, the total at the head,** and the totals in your markbook the same day.

### What paper loses, and how to keep some of it

Paper loses three things a screen gives free: marks the moment the quiz ends, the count of who chose which wrong answer, and a record for each student that builds over a term.

The tally recovers the second. A question most of the class missed, and the wrong option most of them took, is where tomorrow's lesson starts; the share who got a question right is the difficulty figure explained in [item analysis for teachers](https://edprocto.com/guides/item-analysis-for-teachers-what-the-numbers-mean). The markbook recovers part of the third. For a three-question check, three piles are analysis enough, as with [exit tickets](https://edprocto.com/guides/exit-tickets-three-questions-and-a-reflection).

## How does EdProcto make a printable quiz with an answer key?

EdProcto is the best tool for a printed quiz when the questions should come from your own handout and the same quiz may run on devices another week, because one quiz gives both: the paper and its key today, the marking by rule and the results question by question on a screen. The syntheses above found the mode barely moves scores, so the swap is fair for short questions.

Write the quiz in the quiz maker on the [home page](https://edprocto.com/) or from a shape under [templates](https://edprocto.com/templates); a [kit](https://edprocto.com/kits) that begins from your own material opens in the builder too. Beside Settings in the builder is a button marked Paper, whose tooltip reads "The quiz on paper, with an answer key". The page it opens has a Print button that calls your browser's own print dialog. Saving as a PDF is whatever that dialog offers; the page has no export of its own.

**The paper** is headed with a small EdProcto logo, the quiz's name, the template's name, the number of questions, the minutes if a time limit is set, and lines for name, date and score out of the total. The questions follow in the builder's order, each numbered, with how it is answered, its points and what the table above lists. The page asks the browser to keep each question whole.

**The key** starts on a new page, headed "Answer key" with the quiz's name. It gives a line per question: the right option by letter and text; the first accepted answer for a typed answer and for each gap; the number; an ordering by the letters printed on the paper and then in words; a list's items in order; each pair; each item with its group; an open question's model answer, or "Marked by the reader." without one; "Not marked." for a reflection. An explanation follows where the question has one.

**Fix before printing:**

- Ordering items print lettered and out of order, so tell students whether to number the blanks or write the letters in order. The order is fixed for the quiz, so every copy is the same.
- Take out or rewrite any question that needs its picture or clip.
- Sorting and list questions get no ruled lines, so say where to write.
- The key gives one accepted answer and no split of marks. The explanation prints on the key: type the alternatives and the split there.

**What it does not do.** There is one version, in the builder's order: the shuffle settings act on screens only. EdProcto does not scan or mark completed papers, and paper marks cannot be entered into its results, so a sitting on paper leaves no record or analysis there.

Free gives ten quizzes a month and the core templates. Tutor lifts the limit on quizzes and opens all 111 templates, and Educator adds the full analysis for the days the quiz runs on screens. The [pricing page](https://edprocto.com/pricing) has the detail.

## What mistakes spoil a printed quiz?

Most come from printing a screen quiz unchanged.

- **The key in the pile.** Keep it apart from the class set.
- **A screen-only question left in.** "Listen" or "click" on paper costs every student a mark.
- **An ordering question already in order,** or matching columns that line up.
- **Gaps too short for the answer,** or one line where a paragraph is wanted.

## Quick questions

### How do I make a printable quiz with an answer key?

Choose questions that work without a screen, size the writing space to each answer, and print the key on a separate page with the alternatives you accept. EdProcto prints any quiz in its builder as a paper with its key; its page [for teachers](https://edprocto.com/solutions/teachers) shows the rest.

### Do students score differently on paper and on a screen?

Barely, on short questions: Kingston (2009) combined 81 studies of multiple-choice tests in schools and found a very small overall effect. For long informational reading, Clinton (2019) found a small advantage for paper.

### Can I save the quiz as a PDF?

In EdProcto, the Print button on the paper opens your browser's print dialog; where it offers saving as a PDF, choose that. The page has no separate export.

### Does EdProcto shuffle a printed quiz or record paper marks?

No to both. It prints one version in the builder's order, and it neither scans completed papers nor takes typed-in marks. Keep paper marks in your markbook, and run the quiz on screens when you want the analysis.

## References

- Backes, B., & Cowan, J. (2019). Is the pen mightier than the keyboard? The effect of online testing on measured student achievement. *Economics of Education Review, 68*, 89–103. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.12.007](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.12.007)
- Clinton, V. (2019). Reading from paper compared to screens: A systematic review and meta-analysis. *Journal of Research in Reading, 42*(2), 288–325. [https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12269](https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12269)
- Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (2018). Don't throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. *Educational Research Review, 25*, 23–38. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.003](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.09.003)
- Kingston, N. M. (2009). Comparability of computer- and paper-administered multiple-choice tests for K–12 populations: A synthesis. *Applied Measurement in Education, 22*(1), 22–37. [https://doi.org/10.1080/08957340802558326](https://doi.org/10.1080/08957340802558326)
- Mangen, A., Walgermo, B. R., & Brønnick, K. (2013). Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. *International Journal of Educational Research, 58*, 61–68. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.002)
- Støle, H., Mangen, A., & Schwippert, K. (2020). Assessing children's reading comprehension on paper and screen: A mode-effect study. *Computers & Education, 151*, Article 103861. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103861](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103861)
- Wang, S., Jiao, H., Young, M. J., Brooks, T., & Olson, J. (2007). A meta-analysis of testing mode effects in grade K-12 mathematics tests. *Educational and Psychological Measurement, 67*(2), 219–238. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164406288166](https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164406288166)
- Wang, S., Jiao, H., Young, M. J., Brooks, T., & Olson, J. (2008). Comparability of computer-based and paper-and-pencil testing in K–12 reading assessments: A meta-analysis of testing mode effects. *Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68*(1), 5–24. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164407305592](https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164407305592)
- Wilkins, A., Cleave, R., Grayson, N., & Wilson, L. (2009). Typography for children may be inappropriately designed. *Journal of Research in Reading, 32*(4), 402–412. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01402.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01402.x)